The good news/bad news is that my home is now worth a lot more
It is that time of year when thoughts turn to Christmas shopping, winter vacations and … property taxes?
Yes, property taxes. If you pay your taxes in two installments, like many of us do, you just got done paying the second half installment in October.
Then, along comes a notice from the county about your taxes for next year, payable in 2024.
Only it isn’t really your tax statement for 2024. It is what your PROPOSED taxes are for 2024. You are going to get another statement in February with your REAL tax numbers on it.
In almost every single case, the REAL number will be much lower than this PROPOSED number.
However, more than likely that REAL number is still going to be a whole lot higher than what you paid this current year.
All of the local governmental bodies set a preliminary levy amount which was almost always higher than the year before.
They have to set the actual, or REAL, tax levy amount, and the budget for 2024, by the end of December. It can be a lower number (and often is) but it cannot be a higher number.
For instance, the city of Blue Earth’s City Council set their preliminary tax levy at 20 percent higher than the year before.
That means it hiked my PROPOSED taxes by 20 percent. But, the city is not going to stay with the 20 percent hike, they are going to probably do 5.2 percent.
So, my taxes should go down. Maybe.
My personal city portion of my property tax actually shot up more than 20 percent, and was more like a 60 percent jump.
How come?
Well, there are several things that affect what you will pay on your home, commercial building or whatever, taxes.
My estimated market value of my home shot way up, and my homestead exclusion went down.
That meant the taxable market value of my home nearly doubled. The plus side of that is that I guess my home is worth more now. The downside, is, of course, higher property taxes.
At the Monday night City Council meeting, there was a pretty good contingency of Blue Earth property owners present to question their big jump in taxes on their properties.
And some were plenty upset about the big hike in the taxable valuation of their home, noting things like there was no way they could sell it for that number.
(For me, personally, I would like to think that maybe I just might be able to sell it for that amount.)
Of course, complaining about the change in your home’s taxable valuation is NOT what you are supposed to do at this Truth in Taxation Hearing.
The Truth in Taxation Hearing is where you go to complain about the city budget and how high it is, the amount of the levy, and, of course, the exorbitant amount of the tax bill to you personally because of all that city spending.
The complaining about the high tax value of your home is supposed to be done in April at the Board of Review Hearing, which will be on April 22, at 3 p.m. at the City Hall. Which could be at the new Blue Earth City Hall building, if it is finished by then.
One of the people at the Truth in Taxation Hearing said quietly that he wondered if his taxes were going up to pay for the new City Hall.
But, I digress.
County assessor Gertrude Paschke was at the meeting on Monday, and that was quite a surprise to me, and to mayor Rick Scholtes.
You see, she usually just comes to the meeting in April, and never attends the Truth in Taxation Hearing.
But, there she was. And no, she was not there to complain about her taxes going up.
She was there because she figured there would be questions about the hikes in tax valuations. She did indeed explain it, and boiled down it was due to homes selling at higher prices in Blue Earth in 2022, and the fact that the state mandated two 7.5 percent hikes in property valuations besides that.
In the end, I think the folks at the meeting got some answers, just maybe not the answers they wanted.
Big hikes like these are tough on many folks, who are just trying to make ends meet, in a world where things just seem to be going up in cost.
For me, I am kind of excited to see what my REAL tax bill will be when it comes in February. I am hoping it is less than the 58.7 percent hike in my taxes this PROPOSED one shows.
And, I find it interesting to note that my half payment this next May, and again in October, will be just about what my total property tax bill was just a couple of years ago.
And that does not even count my street assessment bill which gets added on.
Uffda!